Improved process of preparing- homoeopathic medicines



Witnesses: inventori ilnitll States gaat; enna. r

BERNHARDT Fineliner BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AssIGNOR TO r. GUs'rAvUs FINOKE, Or` SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 93,980, dated August 24, 1869.

The-Schedule referred to in the'se Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it 'may concern.-

Be inknown new I, BERNHARDT ummm, M. D., of Brooklyn, in the colmty'of Kings, and State of Newv York, have invented a new and improved'Ill/Iethod of Potentiating Substances; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, brmingpzu't of this specification, in

which- Figures l and 2 represent sectional elevations of the apparatus most convenient for carrying 'my process into el'ect.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The nature of my invent-ion consists in facilitating,

accelerating, and improving the process of potentiation, which is aprocess for gradually lessening, comminnting,:.attenuating, refining, rarefying, and infinitesimalizing substances by means ofan indi'erent vehicle incertain proportionsf This invention relates more particularly to the process oipotentiating by dilution, so as to obtain higher potencies than ever reached before, and in less time, and with less labor and expense than it could be done without my invention.

In order to explain .I will iirst describe the original modes of potentiating by dilution, as invented by Hahnemann and Korsakoii, and used hitherto by homopaths only, and then desciibemy new process of preparing high potencies by dilution.

Potentiation was rst invented, and used forY medical purposes, by Dr. Samuel Hahnemanmot' Saxony, Yand his processV was as follows:

Vegetable substances, yielded by a living'plant, were pressed, and their juice mixed with equal parts oi' ahsolnte alcohol, thus forming what he called a ttnctura fortis. From that he made attennations in this way:

Two drops of t-inctara fortis were pnt in to avial with ninety-eight drops of nearly absolute alcohol. This mixture was shaken twice, and was called the first potency. y

0i' this first potency, 11e took one drop, put it` into another vial with ninety-nine drops of alcohol, shook it, and lcalled it the second potency; andthe same process was repeated, thus producing the third'and conseeutive higher potencies, reaching as far as the thirtieth potency.

Of dry substances, such as minerals, powders, Ste.,

'he took one grain, triturated it withninety-nine grains of powdered milk-sugar for-One honi-,and called it the first potency.

Of thatA first potency, he took,Y one grain, triturated it again with ninety-nine grains of powdered'milksugar for an hour, and called it the second potency.

One grain of the second potency, triturated for one hour ,with ninety-nine grains ofv milk-sugar, -gave the third potency.'

Of this third potency, he took one grain, dissolved it in ninety-nine (hops of a mixture of pure alcohol and distilledwater in equal parts, and shook it, and thus produced the fourth potency.

The further potencies were then made in the same manner as above mentioned for diluted potencies, by

.shaking one drop of the fourth potency with ninetydilution.

Count Korsak'otof Russia, afterward discovered a modification and improvement of Hahnem anns'method,

which was accepted by Hahnemann.

His process is as follows:

He mixed one drop of tmctm'a fortis or potency, or one grain of a dry substance 'or trituration, in a vial with one hundred -grainsof water, shook it, and poured it out with a jerk, leaving about as much as ouedrop remaining in the vial, and this one drop was his first potency.

This remaining drop he mixed with ninety-nine grains of water, shook the mixture, poured it ont, againl leaving one drop, thus making the second potency; and thus he proceeded successively up to the thirtieth potency, and so on, successively, he 'reached the fteen hundredth potency.

lVhicheverpotency he wanted to preserve, he prepared by adding one hundred drops of alcohol to the remaining drop of the potency obtained, and by shak- `ing it twice with the arm.

Korsakoffs dilution potencies are known as dilutions on the remaining drop, and his scale is the Hahne man'nian centesimal, modified.

His process, although a decided improvement on The process here in question, which I have invented for making high dilution potencies, although resting onthe general principle of potentiation discoveredby Hahnemann, is new in its principle of operation, and in its mode of carrying it into operation, and the following is a full and exact description of the process:

The principle of operationis that of lluxion, by which I mean a regulated flow of water, as vehicle, upon the substance to be potentiated or diluted in certain proportions.

The mode of carrying this principle into operation can bevaried at pleasure, but Ipreferv th'e two methods hereinafter described, which may be used sepas rately or in succession.

In the rst process, the vehicle is measured before bringing'it in contact with the' substance to be poten# tiated, while, in the second process, the liquid is measured after it has own over the potentiated substance. Either process may be carried into effect by various means. I will describe one for each process.

If the substance to be diluted is soluble in water, as, for instance, Natrum rmwiatz'cum, T51; part of a drachm of it is dissolved in 696 parts of one drachm of distilled water, and this is its first dilution potency.

If it is insoluble in water, as a metal, or if itis an organic substance, of which it is not certain that it dissolves all its essential parts in water, one grain of it is raised 'to at least the third potency' by trituration, according to the Haheniannian method.

This potencyis 'dissolvedv in distilled water, in the proportion of lone Vgrain to'one drachm.

1t' it is a t/inctura, fortis, at least. the third-dilution potency is prepared vaccording lto the Hahnemannian or Korsakoiiian method, on the cent'csimal iscale, by using alcohol as a vehicle. Any substance sir.l prepared is the potency on which the fluXion starts.

Such potency lis exposed to a continuous flux of water, in a vial, holding, say, one and one-halfrdrachm of water, and containing, sl f, vone drachm of potency,"

by means of a small tube or jet.

" If asmall tube, a,.is. nsed,.as indicated in fig. I of .'l

the drawing, itis secured yto the lower end of asiphon, b, drawing' the water, and reaches with its fine end near to the bottom of the vial c.

The water is filled in glass' jars d of celtaindimensions, holding, say, thirty, two hundred, five hundred, one thousand, and five thousand drachms, respectively, into which the glass or other siphon bis brought with its short end.

The jar is provided with a graduated scale, which designates the degrees of dilution by indicating the quantity of water.

'The continuous dow of the water upon the potency in the vial,'adjusted as aforesaid, effects the dilutionV of the same, and may be continued to any given degree corresponding to the amount of influx and efflux from .the jars through the tube ain and out of the -vial.

The vehicle in the jar, it Vwill be seen, is measured before it is broughtin contact with the substance in the vial.

After having-dilutedthe substance, it ows over the mouth of the vial, and is ormay be carried olf in agutter, e.

. W'hen the desired degree of dilution or number of potency is reached in the vial, by having allowed the re. quired corresponding quantity of vehicle to flow through the vial, the tube a is removed, the uid contained ithe vial, being the fluxion. potency, is put into a new vial for use or further potentiation, or` if Aintended for preservation, the vial is emptied with a jerk, leaving about T- drachln ofthe contents in it, and #120% draclnn of alcohol is added to it.

The vial so refilled is or may be 'again exposed to uxion, as above described, until such further potency is reached asmay be desired. 1

When the tube a is removed, the vial is emptied to the remaining drop or drachm,.a'nd filled'with alcohol, as aforesaid.

.having power enough to reach the bottom ofthe vial,

and to cause the liquid to bubble in'therial.-

'The required pressure is obtained and. regulated by a faucet, j, arranged abovea tank, g, asin iig. 2," the vial h standing onta platform, i, in the upper part of the tank. y

The water, before it reaches the vial, may be brought through a filter. v

The water-'tank is so constructed as to be of certain dimensions, holding, say, twenty thousand drachms conveniently. A.

The measures, say,-of five thousand, teu thousand,

fifteen thousand, andtwenty thousand drachms, are marked on a scale onthe inside of -the tank, so that the height of water in the tank can be easily ascertained.

tion.

l. The potentiating-vial is placedv upon the platform r'- in the tank, at a distance of about one inch between the mouth of theyial' and the end of the faucet, or ofa small pipe secmedtherein.

The stream is regulated by the faucet, so -as to secure a steady, gentle ebullition of the water in thel vial.

bling of the liuid in the vial, and .out from it.

As often as the amount of water'owing over out 'of the vial into the tank reaches the level ofthe water marked by the numbers aforesaid, the corresponding degree of dilution or number of potency is reached and obtained;- the faucet is turned o, the vial removed;I tleiluidcontained in vial, being the uxion-potencyf; is put into a new vial for use or further potentiation;l

or, if intended for preservation, the -vial is emptied with a jerk, leaving about T2, drachin of the contents init, and 126% drachmof alcohol is added mto it.

Thetnbe a, reaching to the bottom o f the vial, may. be used, if desired, also in the second-described process of measuring the own-olliqnid.

It will be seen that for the purposes of potentiation by luxion, the proportions of substance and vehicle..

and of the flux and the vessels, may be arranged and varied in anydesrable ratio.

In the above, I described the arrangement on the centesimal scale, which is an improved adaptationof,` tli'e Hahnemannian scale.-

The ceutesimal scale, if adopted in the tluxion-method above described, appears as follows:l

In the first-described process, the substance and vehicle in the starting potency stand in the ratio of l 99, y

and both till the vial in. that' ratio.4

Hence ythe potentiation-proceeds in every differential of\time in the same ratio of 1: 100, i. e., centesimally,

as long as the dow continues, and at every moment 'ot'.

discontinuing the-how, the potencycontained in the vial is a centesimal dilution, designated by the number expressing the-sum of detiuxionin the jar, this number beingthe measure of the water applied and down in the vial,

Equally so inA the bubbling iuxion, or last-described process, Ithere is only 'onedrachm of substance and vehicle in the vial, which is'equal to T-g drachm'ofsubstance-ifgv -drachm of vehicle r: one draelnn of potency, and hence every dilution so obtained is necessarily centesimal. But any scale may be vused in the 'These numbers designate the degrees of diln- The faucet being turned on, afne thyead of waterfis, `.with vsome force, projected into the vial upon the'po. tency; a ne foam ensues, followed by a constant b ubprocess of fluxionherein described, and I do not conue myself to any special arrangement of proportions.

For medical purposes, I use the centesimal scale as the most practical and safe.

If the .proportions are extended to the ratio of l 1,000 or l 10,000 or l 100,000, or otherwise, the process is adjustable accordingly, and the principle and operation are the same, only it will require a larger space than convenient for the average of practising physicians; also a stronger or vweaker jet will have to b'e applied, as the case may be.

In that case the expense will increase, and so will the vdifficulty of control and the chances of error, while the apparent gain of refinement and time will be lost, perhaps', through the unwieldiness ofthe operation.

Considering that a drop of a high potency is sutlicient to perpetuate it for all time, and for allmankind, it is easy to perceive that there is more practical advantage in the little than in the great analogously to the homopathic remedies, which are beneficially' and peculiarly eiicacious in their state of innitesimality.

The improvement and extended application of Hahnemanns centesimal dilution are observable in the flux-i ion-process, in this, that the new process supersedes the necessity oi' using large quantities of different vials, and of filling, emptying, and refilling the vials, for the preparation of each potency at each degree, and that with the new process, the potentiation through the different degrees is or may be carried on in one vial at the same time, in continuous succession, by the natural flow, pressure, or motion ofwater itself, thus effecting the dilution of the substance constantly in infinitesimal quantities of vehicle and time in certain degrees, aud more thoroughly than by the old methods, and at the same time replacing the separate shaking of each potency, by the constant and continuous motion of the ux in infinitesimal quantities of action, and securing, throughout, a more intimate mingling of vehicle and substance in the given proportions, and 'by it the gradual lessening, connuinution, dilution, attenuation, refinement, rarefaction, and inuitesimalizationof the substance to any degree ad libitmn, with a great saving of labor, utensils, expense, and time. v

The process of potentiating by fiuxion, as invented by me, may be carried on and up to any degree. It may be started from any given potency or high potency.

are already tested, and found useful by homopaths for curative purposes.

The centesimal potencies I raise by bubbling or ebullient uxion in pulses of twenty thousand drachms, andi in this manner I have already obtained' the one mllouth potency, (-M,`) and of some materials even the two millionth, (2M.) l

In conclusion, I may say the luxion-process will enable every physician to potentiate his own remedies to any degree desired, and in this regard, as from the automatic nature of the process, it might well be called selfpotentiation, the usefulness of which is apparent, self-potentiation being as important to every good and true physician as self-dispensation.

The apparatus can be varied indefinitely, and I do not confine myself to any specific kind of construction of such.

IVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure 1. Eii'ecting potentiation by the peculiar mode of dilution, called fluxion, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

2. 'Ihe process of poteutiating by carrying the vehicle to the bottom of a vial, by means of a tube or jet, substantially as herein described.

. 3. Producing infinitesimal gradual dilution in one vial, by continuous motion of the vehicle.

4. Measuring the potentiating-vehicle before it enters the vial, or other receptacle of the material to be potentiated, for the purpose of ascertaining the degree of potentiation, as set forth.

5. Measuring the potentiatiug-vehicle by measuring the liquid which ows away from the vial, or other receptacle of ythe material to he potentiated, to ascertain the degree of potentiation, as specified.

v B. FINGKE, M. D.

Witnesses:

R. HERING, B. SHERK. 

